Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Red Mercury

Here is a stunning example of red mercury in the form of cinnabar in quartz. Cinnabar or vermilion is natural red mercury(II) sulfide. Although there has been speculation that red mercury may be a nuclear material, this form of red mercury is not radioactive. Encased in quartz, it is one of the safer ways to have mercury, an extremely toxic element.
A painting of Hermes Trismegistus with the Emerald Tablet of Hermes behind him. The Yin-Yang symbols represent the "As above, so below" Hermetic saying written on the tablet.
Hermes Trismegistus with the sign for Mercury on his hat - Hermes/Mercury/Thoth.
He is a prominent character in the Gnostic Nag Hammadi codices discovered in Egypt.
An alchemical discussion.
Le Fou, the Fool/Jester from the Plantard tarot. Pierre Plantard painted 5 tarot characters. Note that he has the sign for Mercury on his shoulder. This stands for the planet Mercury as well as the element mercury which was one of the 3 basic elements of the alchemists: Mercury, Sulfur, and Salt. Pierre Plantard was the one who gave the list of the Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion to the National Library in Paris in the 1960s. In this card Plantard identifies the Jester/Joker with alchemical Hermes/Mercury, he wears a turban with the alchemical sign for purified (chelated) water on it. The Templars learned chemistry from the Saracens during the Crusades. This Moslem alchemist appears to be a Moor in the Oswald Wirth tarot which was modeled on the original French Marseilles tarot. The Moors were in Spain and in France.
From the Oswald Wirth tarot, the model for Plantard`s tarot. Wirth drew the hat of the Joker as a large turban.
"Cinnabar (pronounced /ˈsɪnəbɑr/) or cinnabarite /sɪnəˈbɑraɪt/ (red mercury(II) sulfide (HgS), native vermilion), is the common ore of mercury".